Calling the Cards. To begin with, allow the pack of cards to be thoroughly shuffled. When the pack is returned to you, adroitly notice the value (suit and denomination) of the bottom card, which we will suppose happens to be the four of spades.

Now, with apparent carelessness, throw the cards face downward on a table and scatter them about with your fingers. However, you must not lose sight of the bottom card, and wherever your fingers may push it your eyes should follow also, in order that you may know exactly where it lies. The spectators, meanwhile, are unaware of this knowledge on your part.

Say to those present: “I will now present to you a mystery which is apparently very simple, yet to my mind is a profound problem. It is one of those mental wonders that cannot be readily understood, and the deeper we study into them, the farther we seem to be from the truth. You will therefore observe closely and see what you see.”

You continue: “I have, as you probably noticed, allowed Mr. —— to shuffle the cards thoroughly and they have been scattered over this table at random. I shall allow five cards to be selected and I shall endeavor to name each one before it is taken up. In order that nobody’s attention may be distracted, I shall hold the cards taken up until the entire five have been selected. To prevent any mistake, let some person write the names of the cards upon a paper as they are called and see if I am correct.”

You will then remark: “I will now call for cards, one by one and shall ask Mr. Brown (any person desired) to make the first selection. Mr. Brown, you will please find for me the four of spades, without turning the card over.”

Naturally Mr. Brown smiles and says that such a thing is impossible. You ask him, however, to simply rest his fingers upon the back of any card his fancy may dictate. Having touched a card, you carefully draw it away from the table, making sure that its face cannot be seen. Hold it in your hands, close to your body, in an easy, unsuspicious manner, just as if you were confident the four of spades had been selected. Let us suppose, however, that the card is the seven of hearts. You remark: “I will next ask Mr. Jones to touch a card in the same manner as did Mr. Brown, but I predict beforehand that it will be the seven of hearts.” The card is tapped, and you pick it up, as before. Let us suppose this second one is the ace of diamonds. If so, you ask Mr. Smith to touch a card, which you expect to be the ace of diamonds. This, you notice, happens to be the queen of hearts. You then ask Mr. Robinson to touch a card, which you intend shall be queen of hearts, and after he does so you secretly ascertain that it is the eight of clubs.

Up to the present moment, four cards have been chosen. For the fifth time, you are to have a card selected “by chance.” You decide, however, to save time, that you will try your own luck and see if you can pick out the eight of clubs. In doing this, you allow your finger to rest, with apparent carelessness, upon the real four of spades, the position of which you have known all the while. Having picked up the four of spades, you place it with the others in your hand.

You are now able to produce the five cards you have named beforehand, viz.: four of spades, seven of hearts, ace of diamonds, queen of hearts and eight of clubs. The effect upon spectators is indeed surprising.

Much depends upon the tact which you employ in executing this trick. You should first impress it in an indirect way upon the minds of those present, that your experiment is one of actual prevision. It is one of the rules of magic to lead the thoughts as well as eyes in a wrong direction. Be careful in picking up the cards. Do not let any one who is to touch a card get ahead of you by turning it over and thus exposing your trick. In looking at the card after you have taken it into your hand, do so adroitly—don’t stare at it. As the success of the trick depends upon knowing the location of one card, do not make a mistake on that one.

The Odd Card. Request one of the company to place both hands flat on the table, then insert between each two fingers of his right hand, two cards or one pair at a time; this will require four pairs of cards. Follow the same method with his left hand but place a single card instead of a pair between the third and little finger. This will require three pairs and an odd card or fifteen cards in all. Now take the two cards which are between the third and little finger of his right hand and lay them down on the table, separately, side by side, at the same time saying, “That is one pair.” Then take the next pair, separate the two cards and lay one on each of the cards already on the table and say, “There is another pair.” Follow exactly the same method with the remaining pairs, making the same remark with each until only the odd card remains. When you come to the one card, hold it in your own hand so that every one may see it. “Now,” explains the performer, “we have two heaps containing an even number of cards. I have one card in my hand. If I place this odd card on either of the two even packs, it will make that pack odd, will it not?” The audience appealed to in this manner will respond in the affirmative. “Now on which pack shall I place this odd card?” The card is placed on the packet selected. “Will some one in the audience kindly hold this odd packet?” continues the performer, handing the packet to a lady or gentleman. “I shall hold the even packet. My trick is this: I shall undertake to pass one card from my packet which contains an even number of cards to the odd packet, held tightly by your representative. Ready! Hold tightly, sir. One, two, three! Did you feel the card as it struck the pack? No? Well, sometimes the impact is imperceptible. But the card has arrived nevertheless. Will you count the cards in your packet? Wait a moment, sir. In the beginning you had the odd packet, I believe? And now, (Spectator counts the cards) you hold the even card number while I have the odd number! (Performer counts the cards in his packet.) Isn’t it wonderful?”

Naming the Cards. Divide a pack of cards in halves, and place these back to back, when one half will be visible to the audience and the other half to yourself. Glance quickly at the card facing you, and then place the cards behind your back. Place the card you saw over the card shown to the company, show the cards, and call the right card. This will give you an opportunity of seeing the next card. Produce as before, and do so until you have come to the last. It is best, in performing this trick, only to keep a few cards turned towards yourself, so as not to tire the company and possibly lead them to guess how you do the trick.

A Diamond Ace of Hearts. Show the ace of diamonds, the ace of spades, and the ace of clubs, and lay them face downward on the table. Pick up one ace, which you place in the middle of the pack: the second ace at the bottom, and the third ace at the top of the pack. Then ask a spectator to cut the pack wherever he or she may like, and no matter where the pack is cut, the three aces will be found together.

Commence by withdrawing the four aces from the pack: the ace of diamonds you secretly place on top of the pack, and arrange the other three aces fan-wise as follows: the ace of hearts must be inverted, and with the other two cards, hide the lower part of the heart and the small heart in the indicator. Show the three cards thus arranged quickly, and no one will imagine that the centre card is not the ace of diamonds.

Lay the three aces face down on the table, still arranged fan-wise, pick up the centre card, which is really the ace of hearts, and without letting any one see its face, slip it anywhere in the pack; place the second ace at the bottom of the pack and the third, after showing it, on top, of course covering the ace of diamonds which is already there. It does not signify in which place the pack is cut, the three aces will be found together when the two parts of the pack are reunited.

A Three-card Trick. This requires the aid of three persons. Take three cards, and, holding them in front of the first person, request him to choose one and think of it. Then lay the three cards, face down, in a row on the table, and take three more cards, which show to the second person, and tell him to remember one of them. Place these cards on top of the other three, and ask the third person to think of one of a third lot, which you show him; then lay the last three cards on top of the others. You now have three packs of three cards each. You lift one pack at a time, and request each of the three persons to inform you which pack contains the card he thought of. Of course, you know that the first person’s card must be at the bottom of one of the packs, the second person’s card in the middle, and the third person’s card on top.

Detection by Smell. This may be played upon some one who will take no offence at the result. Allow the person to shuffle the cards, and then to select any one card, returning the pack to the performer. Ask the person to remember the card and to show it to the audience. While this is being done, the performer turns his back, stating that he does not want to see the card or get any clue as to what it is. While in this position, the bottom card of the pack is turned up—and the top card turned down. Turning around, he asks the person who selected the card, to hold it for a few seconds between the hands, saying that the card will be found by the sense of smell. The performer now asks some one in the company to procure a hat. Place it, crown down, a little distance from any one.

Holding the pack tightly, the person holding the card is now asked to thrust it into the pack wherever he likes. The performer now puts the pack in the hat and, taking out a few cards, commences to smell of each one. Pushing the cards around, the chosen card will be seen with its back the wrong way. When ready, take this card, smell of it, with appropriate remarks show it, as the chosen card.

For a sensational conclusion, you may bring the discovered card to the top of the pack, and ask the person who selected the card to grip the pack tightly by a corner, between the thumb and first finger of the right hand, the thumb extending about half-inch and the finger more, and turn the cards face uppermost. The selected card is now, of course, at the bottom or lower portion of the pack. Suddenly hit the pack a strong downward blow, which will knock all the cards on the floor, except the one selected, which will be left in the grip of the party who selected it, staring him in the face.

Naming a Drawn Card. The conjurer, having shuffled the cards, asks a member of the audience to abstract any card he pleases, to look at it, and impress it firmly on his mind.

While he has been talking, the conjurer has been squaring up the cards, and he now holds up the pack between the thumb and second finger of his left hand. Any other way than this of holding the cards will do equally well so long as the audience can see that the cards are properly squared up. The chooser now returns his card to the pack.

The conjurer then places the cards behind his back, draws away three, throws them on the table, and asks the chooser if his card is among them. The answer is “No.” The process of throwing three cards at a time on the table is repeated until the chooser says that his card is among the three exposed cards. The conjurer then names the card.

The explanation is that when the card is returned to the pack, the conjurer is careful to notice where it was returned, whether near the top, middle, or bottom of the pack. We will suppose that it was near the middle. The conjurer places the pack behind his back and draws off three cards at a time from the top of the pack until he has shown—say eighteen cards. He will know that the selected card was not among them. He then draws the top card and the two bottom cards of the pack for the next three, and he continues in this way until the chooser says that his card is among the three. The conjurer then knows at once that it is the top card of the three, because the other cards have come from the bottom of the pack, and the chosen card has been replaced near the middle of the pack. If the chosen card is inserted near the middle of the pack, several cards from the top may be immediately placed on the bottom of the pack to save time.

Grouping the Kings. Select the four kings from a pack, and also two jacks. The kings you arrange in the shape of a fan, and place behind the second one the two knaves, therefore they are hidden from view. You show the cards by holding them towards the audience, so that they may be satisfied that the cards really are kings. Square them together so that one king will be on top, then the two jacks and then the three kings, and place them on the top of the pack. You may remark, “Ladies and gentlemen, I propose to separate these kings, the first (which you hold towards them), I will place at the bottom of the pack, the second, (which is a knave) I will place a little higher up, the third (also a knave) higher up still, and the fourth (which you again exhibit, for it is really a king) I will leave on top.” The kings are now three, on top, and one at the bottom of the pack; consequently, a single cut will bring them together. After a little unnecessary pressing, etc., one of the company can cut the cards, and kings will be found to be in company.

Detecting a Turned Card. The picture cards have commonly a narrow strip for the border; this border is usually narrower at one end of the card than it is at the other. Place three or four of the picture cards in such a manner that either all the broader or all the narrower borders are placed uppermost. Request a spectator to invert one of the cards while you are not looking. When done, observe the cards and you will easily see which card is turned, as its narrower border now lies on a level with the broader border of the other cards. If they try to mystify you by turning none of the cards, you will easily see that this is the case. If the performer has a good memory, the border may be placed any way, taking due care to remember the positions.

Telling the Number of Transposed Cards. The performer allows a spectator to cut a pack of cards into two heaps. Now, while the performer’s back is turned, the spectator is requested to transpose any number of cards up to ten, from one pack to another. Place the two packets together and square up the cards. The performer deals from the top of the pack about twenty cards, throwing them face downward on the table. The performer now asks the number of cards transposed, and after the spectator has replied, the selected card is turned over, and the number of its spots corresponds to the number of cards transposed. Thus if three cards were transposed, a three-spot would be turned up.

The explanation is as follows: The pack is pre-arranged in this manner: on an ace, laid face downward, place a deuce; on this a tray; on this a four; and so on to ten; and then a jack, queen, and king. These thirteen cards are on top of the pack, and when the pack is cut, the performer notes which packet contains the arranged cards. He now requests some one to select one of the packets, forcing the bottom packet. That is, if he selects the bottom packet, use that, if he selects the top packet, say “I will take the other.” In any case arrange to use the bottom packet. A spectator takes any number of cards up to ten from the selected packet and passes them on the other packet, the performer turning his back while this is done. The two packets are now placed together, taking care that the packet on which the transposed cards were placed is uppermost. Now, no matter how many cards were placed upon the arranged packet, the fourteenth card from the top will always give the correct number, so that in dealing off the cards, the performer must not lose sight of the fourteenth card. Deal off about twenty cards, throwing them carelessly on the table, but allowing the fourteenth card to be a trifle more exposed than the others. This will facilitate the choice of the card. The performer now asks the number of cards transposed, and after the spectator has replied, the selected card is turned over, and the number of its spots correspond to the number of cards transposed.

The Three Packets. Tell a person to choose as he pleases three cards from a euchre pack, informing him that an ace counts for eleven, a picture card for ten, and the others according to the number of spots. When he has chosen these three, tell him to put them on the table and to place on each as many cards as spots are required to make fifteen. That is to say, eight cards would have to be put on the seven of clubs, four cards on the ace, and a five above the ten. Let him return you the rest of the pack, and (while pretending to count something in them) count how many remain. Add sixteen to this number, and you will have the number of spots in the three bottom cards.

A Card Found at the Second Guess. Offer the cards to some person, and let him draw one. You then hold the cards behind you, and tell him to place his card on top. Pretend to make a great shuffling, but only turn that card with its back to the others, still keeping it at the top. Then hold up the cards with their faces towards the spectator, and ask him if the bottom card is his. (While doing so, you inspect his card at your leisure.) He of course denies it and then you again put the cards behind you, turn over his card so it will face with the others and begin shuffling again furiously. “Let me do that,” he will probably say; so, as you are perfectly acquainted with his card, let him shuffle as much as he likes, and then when you get the cards back again, shuffle, and show him his own card.

Pocketing a Chosen Card. The performer exhibits four cards, held fanwise in his left hand and requests a spectator mentally to select one. The performer then takes one of the cards and places it in his pocket. Upon spreading the cards again the spectator’s card is missing and the performer draws the mentally selected card from his pocket.

Four cards are arranged as follows: king of clubs, jack of hearts, jack of spades, and queen of diamonds.

Behind the king of clubs, the top card of the pack, arrange these three cards, queen of clubs, king of spades and jack of diamonds. At the outset, the seven cards can be on the top of the pack, the last named three cards, of course, on top of the king of clubs.

Give the pack a shuffle, taking care not to disturb the seven arranged cards on top. Rapidly count off these cards in such a manner that the audience cannot see how many cards you take. Arrange the king of clubs, jack of hearts, jack of spades, and queen of diamonds fanwise in the left hand, keeping the three extra cards, the queen of clubs, king of spades and jack of diamonds concealed behind the king of clubs. It does not matter in what order the suits of the three concealed cards are arranged. The proper method of holding the fan of cards is with the left side of the king (and the three concealed cards) pressed tightly in the crotch of the left thumb, the opposite edge being held by the tip of the first finger of the left hand. This will keep the cards from spreading and bringing the trick to a premature and disastrous conclusion. The other three cards of the fan are held between the tips of the left thumb and second and third fingers.

Turn your back to the spectators and hold the fan high above your head, the faces of the cards toward the audience, and request a spectator to think of one of the cards. When the choice has been made, square the cards, inserting the little finger between the king of clubs and the three cards back of it. Then you say: “I shall now place one of the cards in my pocket,” and, suiting the action to the words, take the four cards you have just shown, and holding them as one card, place them in the pocket, leaving the three extra cards in your left hand. Ask the spectator to name his card. Let us suppose he chose the king of clubs. The performer replies, “The king of clubs? Ah, then I read your mind correctly, for I placed the king of clubs in my pocket. Let me show you first that the king has left the pack.” The performer spreads the three cards, the queen of clubs, the king of spades and the jack of diamonds, on the table. He then produces the desired card from the pocket. As the order of the suits is known, this part of the trick is a simple matter. If the chosen card is the jack of spades the performer picks out the third card. A little practice is necessary in order to make the selection quickly, for there must be no fumbling in the pocket.

The spectator will never detect the substitution of the cards; for the ingenious arrangement of the suits tends to confuse the mind.

To Pick Out a Card Thought Of. Blindfold. Take twenty-one cards and lay them down in three rows with their faces upwards; i. e., when you have laid out three, begin again at the left hand and lay one card upon the first, and so on to the right hand; then begin on the left hand again, and so go on until you have laid out the twenty-one cards in three heaps, at the same time requesting any one to think of a card. When you have laid them out, ask him which heap his card is in; then lay that heap in the middle between the other two. This done, lay them out again in three heaps as before, and again request him to notice where his noted card goes, and put that heap in the middle, as before. Then taking up the cards with their backs towards you, take the uppermost card off and reckon it one; take off another, which reckon two; and thus proceed until you come to the eleventh, which will invariably prove to be the card thought of. This trick may be done without your seeing the cards at all, if you handle and count them carefully. To diversify the trick, you may use a different number of cards, but the number chosen must be divisible by three, and the middle card, after they have been thrice dealt as directed, will always be the one thought of; for instance, if done with fifteen cards, it must be the eighth.

The Siamese Aces. Two aces are removed from the pack, which is then cut into three packets. One of the aces is placed on the middle packet, and while the performer is exhibiting the remaining ace, one of the spectators “maliciously” transfers a few cards from either of the outside packets to the top of the middle heap. The performer, not noticing this disarrangement of the cards, places the second ace on top of the first, and the two on top of the middle heap, presumably on top of the first ace, although the spectators, who blithely imagine they are in a conspiracy against the performer, know otherwise. The cards are now dealt from the bottom, face upward, and the two aces come together.

The solution of the mystery is as follows. In taking out two aces—say the ace of clubs and the ace of hearts, glance secretly at the top card of the pack. For the purpose of explanation let us assume that this “key” card is the seven of spades. Now cut the pack into three heaps so that the top part of the pack will form the middle heap. You must number the heaps in your mind from left to right, 1, 2, 3. The top card of the middle heap is the seven of spades. Exhibit the ace of hearts, requesting the spectators to remember the card, and place it on the middle pile. While you are exhibiting the second ace (the ace of clubs), move a little distance from the cards, and at this psychological moment, a friend, who acts as your confederate, (although the audience is not aware of the fact) transfers a few cards from either No. 1 or No. 3 to the top of the centre heap. You are, apparently, oblivious of this manoeuver, and place the ace of clubs on the No. 1 heap, concluding by placing No. 3 on No. 1 and these on the middle heap. Inform the audience that you are about to illustrate for their benefit the surprising amount of affection that exists between cards of the same value. For instance, kings associate with kings, queens with queens, jacks with jacks, and aces with aces; of all cards, you declare, the aces are the most affectionate. Between them the bonds of sympathy are so strong that if they are separated only temporarily they will exert every effort to be reunited. This sympathy is especially strong between a red ace and a black ace—between a club and a heart, a diamond and a spade. In fact, each pair may be likened to the Siamese twins, except that the bond is sentimental rather than material. “You will observe,” adds the performer, “that the ace of clubs and the ace of hearts were placed in different parts of the deck, but so strong is the affection between these aces that I have not the slightest doubt they are at this moment reunited in some portion of the pack. Ah, you smile incredulously; but I assure you that what I say is literally true, and I am prepared to make my assertion good. Observe, pray, that I shall deal the cards one at a time on the table, and when I come to one of the aces, the other will be with it.” The spectators, knowing that the cards have been disarranged, smile in expectation of the performer’s discomfiture. The conjurer proceeds to deal the cards from the bottom, throwing them face upward on the table. When the “key” card turns up the performer knows that the next card is an ace. He slides this ace back with the third finger of the left hand, and keeps on dealing until the other ace appears, when he throws out the first ace. A flashlight picture of the company at this moment would reveal an interesting study in chagrin.

Detection of a Drawn Card by Color. Previously separate the pack into two parts, placing all the red cards in one pile, and all the black cards in the other. One of these packs you conceal in your pocket. You let any person draw a card from the other pack, and while he is examining the card, substitute the pack in your pocket for the one you hold in your hand. Let him place his card in the pack you have taken from your pocket, and shuffle as much as you please. You will at once recognize the card he has drawn by the difference of color.

Mathematical Detection of Card Thought Of. Arrange the first ten cards of a suit in a circle. Request some one to think of one of the exposed cards and to touch some other card in the circle. Mentally add the value of the card touched to the number of cards displayed (10), and then ask him to count the cards backwards, until the number you have given is reached, beginning at the card touched, and reckoning that card as the number thought of. The card at which he stops will be the one mentally selected.

For example, we will suppose the three was the card thought of, and the six was the card touched. Six added to 10 makes 16. Then request the player to commence counting the cards backwards mentally from the number thought of (three) at the number touched (six) and continue until 16 is named, touching each card as he counts. With finger on six he mentally says “three;” the five-spot he calls four; the four, five; the three, six; the two, seven, and so on up to 16. The mental count will end with the three-spot—the number thought of.

The designation of this time after time, no matter what card is chosen, will seem little short of miraculous to the uninitiated, and will prove an unfailing amusement.

Of course, the evolution of the number to be counted—16 (or 10 added to whatever card is touched)—must not be explained, and the apparent haphazard choice of various numbers, when the director says: “Now count backward till you reach 20 this time,” or “12,” or “try to find any law you can if I say a little 19,” will not appear due to tact or finesse, but to be the result of some mysterious intuitive power.

Passing a Card to Top of Pack. Take off the top card of the pack and show it. We will suppose it is the eight of hearts. Call attention to it and put it back on the top of the pack. Then, without exposing the face of the card, take it off the top of the pack again and put it in the centre of the pack. Do not push it fully in until you have held the pack up and shown that the card is what you said it was—the eight of hearts. Then square up the pack. Take off the top card and show it to your audience. It is the eight of hearts which has apparently jumped from the centre of the pack, where you put it, to the top.

Some one may say, “You have two eights of hearts.” Give the pack to be examined and your friends will find that the pack is quite regular.

To do this, arrange the pack in such a way that the seven of hearts is on top, and the eight of hearts above that. When you show the top card you really slide off the two top cards together. Hold them with the thumb at one end and two fingers at the other and the first finger at one side. If you bend the card slightly, there will be less chance of any one noticing that you are holding two cards. You call attention to the fact that the top card is the eight of hearts, and put the two cards, still held as one, back on the top of the pack. Then you draw off the top card, which is the seven of hearts, and slip it into the centre of the pack. Show part of the card just before you push it way in, and if you contrive to keep a finger over the index in the corner, nobody will know that the card is not the eight of hearts.

It is now in the hands of the performer to make the rest of the trick as mysterious as possible.

The Trick of “Thirty-one.” A trick often introduced by sporting men for the purpose of deceiving and making money is called “thirty-one.” It is played with the first six cards of each suit,—the aces in one row, the deuces in another, the threes in another; then the fours, fives, and sixes—all laid in rows. The object now will be to turn down cards alternately and endeavor to make thirty-one points by so turning, or as near to it as possible without overrunning it; the one who turns down a card, the spots of which make thirty-one or so near it that the other cannot turn down one without overrunning it, wins. The chief point of this trick, is, to count so as to end with the following numbers, namely 3, 10, 17, or 24. For example, we will suppose that you are to begin, you would commence with 3, your opponent would add 6, which would make 9; it would then be your policy to add 1, and make 10; then, no matter what number he adds, he cannot prevent you from counting seventeen, which number gives you the command of the trick. We will suppose he adds six, and makes sixteen; then, you make 24, then he cannot possibly add any one number to count 31, as the highest number he can add is 6, which would only count 30, so that you can easily add the remaining 1, or ace, and make 31.